“Sea Creature Complaints” and “Green Gone” are Honorable Mention films at the high school and middle school levels, respectively. Both are from the Maui Huliau Foundation in Maui, Hawaii.
By Lisa Biehle Files
With the addition of three new $1,000 prizes, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest had a total of nine top prize winners this year (see previous article). These top winners will receive their awards at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 7, at the Gene Siskel Center, in Chicago. Reserve tickets here.
Out of 196 entries total, the following nine finalists will also be recognized for their Honorable Mention films, which will screen at a separate event in April, near Earth Day. In addition, a few of these films will be incorporated into the One Earth Film Festival as “trailers” before feature films between March 6 and 15, because the content for these shorts enhances or matches the feature film content.
Grady Roderweiss-O’Brien
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL
“The Impossible Way” (4 min)
Grady Roderweiss-O’Brien
Grade 4
Beye School, Oak Park, Ill.
Bursting with personality, Grady narrates his four-minute film, “The Impossible Way,” about the environmental impact of giving up meat. First, he explains that 28% of emissions are from methane produced by livestock. Giving up meat would mean 300 million fewer cattle raised and slaughtered per year, hence lower emissions. “I can’t order you to become a vegetarian,” he says, “but I sure do have a right to persuade you.” Grady presents the Impossible Burger as a good meat alternative, grown in a lab, but containing protein. Little brother, Jeff, provides comic relief while Grady explains the facts in this endearing film.
“The Impossible Way” will screen as part of the One Earth Film Festival before the feature film “Beyond Climate” at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St., in Oak Park. Reserve tickets here.
Samantha Older
MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL
“The Shortage of Helium” (3.5 min)
Samantha Older
Grade 7
Roosevelt Middle School, River Forest, Ill.
In her 3.5-minute film “The Shortage of Helium,” Samantha brings to light the little-known issue of a diminishing supply of helium, a non-renewable resource, which is predicted to run out in 20 to 30 years. Helium is used in a surprising number of ways in medicine, science, and industry, she says, from cooling MRI machine magnets to enabling computer hard drives to store and use less energy. Samantha urges us to be aware of this problem and forgo helium balloons for celebrations. She also suggests that blimp producers could use hot air instead of helium, and that we should spread the word about this looming crisis.
Tess Moretti-Hill is an elderly woman looking for a quick fix instead of weeding her garden in ‘Green Gone.’
“Green Gone” (3 min)
Tess Moretti-Hill, Gabriel Jeffers, Mahea Dunn, Keanu Frith
Grade 8
Maui Huliau Foundation, Maui, HI
“Green Gone” is a parody of a typical commercial for weed killer and/or pesticide. With perky music in the background, the narrator explains that his product, Green Gone, kills all living things on contact: rodents, weeds, bugs, flowers, and trees. “When it washes into streams and enters the ocean, it will even kill coral, sea grass, and marine life,” he adds cheerfully. After hearing three personal testimonials for the product, we are told the price is just $2.99 in 234 payments (not bad for about $700 total). To polish off the end of this three-minute comedy sketch, the narrator reads the disclaimers at lightning speed.
“Green Gone” will screen as part of the One Earth Film Festival before the feature film “Overload: America’s Toxic Love Story” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St., in Oak Park. It will also screen a second time before “Overload” at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at Wilmette Theatre, in Wilmette. Reserve tickets for either screening here.
Chloe Chin, Tessa Chin, and Ka’imi Kaleleiki read and perform in their poetic film “Remember.”
HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL
“Remember” (3 min)
Chloe Chin, Tessa Chin, Ka'imi Kaleleiki
Grades 8 to 11
Maui Huliau Foundation, Maui, HI
In their three-minute film “Remember,” three girls dressed in black walk and stand in a lush Hawaiian forest. Through recitation of a poetic text from the classic Anne of Green Gables, they remind us of the abundance and purity of nature, which is being destroyed with plastic, pollution, and human infrastructure. In one scene, the narrator begins in the forest among the trees, then turns to find herself on a street filled with cars the next. “Is my convenience worth the destruction of our home?” she asks. “The solution is in us. We just have to remember.”
“Remember” will screen as part of the One Earth Film Festival before the feature film “Beyond Climate” at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St., in Oak Park. Reserve tickets here.
In “Sea Creature Complaints,” the clown fish’s coral reef is dying, the sea turtle’s friends are choking on plastic, and the porpoise can’t tolerate sonar waves, even rallying to start a non-profit called “Porpoise with a Purpose.”
“Sea Creature Complaints” (5 min)
Dane Ottman and Matt Golin
Grades 9 and 10
Maui Huliau Foundation, Maui, HI
The human impact on aquatic life is presented with a touch of humor in several one-on-one interviews with Claymation sea creatures in the five-minute film “Sea Creature Complaints.” The sea turtles’ friends are choking on plastic, the clown fish is losing her coral reef home, and the harbor porpoise is bombarded with painful sonar waves, to name a few. The only sea creature able to cope is the octopus, an opportunist who adapts and wonders why the others don’t do the same. The creative script and various accents make this film both entertaining and informative.
COLLEGE LEVEL (includes Grade 12)
Jordan Renville
“Change” (6 min)
Jordan Renville
Grade 12
The Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Jordan layers one-on-one interviews with excerpts from news stories about extreme weather events in his six-minute film “Change.” Each interviewee has a personal story to tell about how they are impacted by climate change or pollution. Dramatic piano music creates a sense of foreboding, while Jordan’s “glitch effect” adds to the sense of urgency. A youth representative from Extinction Rebellion implores, “We know how we can stop this. It’s going to take massive change. We can do that; we have done that! In times of crisis, people rally together. . . . It’s going to happen because it has to.”
“Change” will screen as part of the One Earth Film Festival before the feature film “Beyond Climate” at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14, at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St., in Oak Park. Reserve tickets here.
Taylor Anderson
Bianca Franco
Natalie Snodgrass
“Feeding the Future of Chicago” (5 min)
Natalie Snodgrass: Lake Forest High School, Lake Forest, Ill.
Bianca Franco: Maine South High School, Park Ridge, Ill.
Taylor Anderson: Oak Park & River Forest High School, Oak Park, Ill.
Grade 12
In their five-minute film “Feeding the Future of Chicago,” Natalie, Bianca, and Taylor interview people who are supporting sustainable food practices in Chicago, from planting community gardens, to sourcing local produce at restaurants, to composting food waste, to recovering food to pass along to those in need. Soft piano music accompanies this uplifting film about positive changes people are making to Chicago’s food system.
Natalie Shoultz
“Racism and the Environmental Movement”
(4.5 min)
Natalie Shoultz
Senior
Loyola University, Chicago, Ill.
Natalie’s 4.5 minute-film is a strong critique of the environmental movement. In it she highlights that, “The mainstream environmental movement has focused on white environmentalism, like preservation of wilderness for leisure and recreation, when the most vital problems that result from climate change affect communities of color.” Her examples include the Flint, Mich. water crisis, the Dakota access pipeline, and the excessive media coverage of Greta Thunberg while activists of color receive little attention. Natalie hopes her film will help us all “move forward with the right priorities.”
Patrick Thomas Keen
“Tossed: Waste and Recycling Video Quiz” (up to 8 min)
Patrick Thomas Keen
Junior
Columbia College Chicago, Ill.
Patrick created this video quiz for students at Columbia College, to teach them where to toss their refuse: landfill, mixed recycling, paper, or compost. Viewers are tested with a plastic bottle, plastic bag, leftover food, a pizza box, and finally electronics, to choose the right bin. An affable guide, Marcus Sampson, includes suggestions to reduce overall waste by bringing reusable water bottles and bags. Patrick’s goal in making this quiz was to promote better recycling and composting habits.
“Tossed” will screen as part of the One Earth Film Festival before the Young Filmmakers Contest Awards at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 7, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., in Chicago. Reserve tickets here.
In addition, “Tossed” will screen before the feature film “Eating Up Easter” at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14, with Plant Chicago @ The Firehouse, 4459 S. Marshfield, Chicago. Reserve tickets here.
Marcus Sampson narrates the quiz film “Tossed” by Patrick Thomas Keen.
NOTEWORTHY
“A Day at the Beach” (1 min)
Marley Rankin, Sebastian Zufelt,
Madison Jackson-Hite, Olivia Flego-Wirth
Grade 12
Ballard High School, Seattle, Wash.
Marley, Sebastian, Madison and Olivia’s 1-minute film is too short for live action contest rules (minimum of 3 min), but their film is so impactful, that it was selected as Noteworthy. Three friends lightheartedly drive to the beach, with surf music in the background, creating a carefree mood. But when they arrive to surf, we see the dystopian view of what the world could face if pollution continues unabated. A passion for protecting the oceans and waterways motivated these students to create “A Day at the Beach.”
“A Day at the Beach” will screen as part of the One Earth Film Fest’s Opening Launch Party at 6 p.m. Friday, March 6, at Tesla Gold Coast, 901 N. Rush St., Chicago. Reserve tickets here.